Thailand executes first prisoner by lethal injection since 2009

Demonstrators from Amnesty International hold placards outside the Bang Kwang Central Prison to protest against the death penalty in Bangkok, Thailand, June 19, 2018. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha1

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand has executed its first prisoner since 2009, the Department of Corrections said on Tuesday, a move the human rights group Amnesty International condemned as a "deeply misguided" effort to reduce crime.

Theerasak Longji, 26, was executed by lethal injection at Bang Kwang Central Prison north of Bangkok on Monday. He was found guilty of murdering a 17-year-old boy in 2012, the department said.

He was the seventh person to be executed by lethal injection since Thailand introduced the method in 2003 to replace execution by firing squad. Before Monday, the last people executed were two Thai drug dealers in 2009.

"This is a deplorable violation to the right of life," Amnesty's Thailand campaigner Katherine Gerson said of Theerasak's execution.

She said Thailand had reneged on a commitment to move towards abolishing the death penalty and was out of step with a global shift away from capital punishment.

"There is no evidence that the death penalty has any unique deterrent effect, so the Thai authorities' hopes that this move will reduce crime is deeply misguided," Gerson said.

"The Thai government must immediately halt any plans to carry out further executions," she added.

Narat Sawettanan, director-general of the Department of Corrections, declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.